Various types of squirt guns have been well known in the prior art. Conventional squirt guns of the prior art typically consist of a hollow, gun shaped body incorporating hand operable pump whereby the user may repeatedly pump the trigger so as to cause intermittent expulsion or spurting of water through the barrel of the gun.
More recently, constant pressure squirt toys have become known in the art. Such constant pressure squirt toys generally comprise a resilient or elastic tube (e.g. a section of latex tubing) which may be force filled with water causing the tube to expand, thus pressurizing the water contained therein. A valve and nozzle arrangement is connected to the tube. When the valve is opened, a substantially constant stream of water is expelled outwardly through the nozzle. When the valve is once again closed, the outflow of water stops. These constant pressure types of squirt toys rely upon the resiliency or elasticity of the tube for expelling the water. Thus, such constant pressure squirt toys do not require the inclusion of a pump device for manually pumping the water as in the "squirt gun" type toys of the prior art.
Some constant pressure squirt toys have heretofore been known to present certain dangers to children or adults using such devices. For example, at least one of the early models of constant pressure squirt toys comprised an uncovered latex tube which, in the event of a blow out or rupture, could result in injury due to the rapid outflow of pressurized water and/or fragments of assembly components or the ruptured latex tube. In an effort to prevent such injuries, manufacturers of some prior art water squirt toys have included a knit tubular sleeve positioned around the exterior of the latex tube. The provision of such exterior sleeve is known to serve three (3) injury preventing functions. First, the exterior sleeve helps to protect the latex tube from abrasion or damage. Second the sleeve if properly sized, may confine and prevent over-expansion of the latex tube. Third, the sleeve helps to dampen the outflow of water and fragments of the latex tube and associated components in the event of undesirable rupture of the tube.
Although the provision of the knit outer sleeve has helped to minimize the likelihood of injuries resulting from frank rupture of the latex tube, there have nonetheless, remained other potentially dangerous aspects of the construction of the prior art constant pressure squirt toys.
For example, at least one prior art device incorporates a small plastic or wooden plug inserted and/or glued into the rear end of the expandable latex tube. The plugged end of the tube remains substantially uncovered, thus presenting an injury hazard in the event that if the end plug should blow out of the tubing in such a manner as to become a projectile.
In addition to the above-described injury hazards, the other aspects of the design and construction of the prior art devices are also known to be less than optimal. For instance, the insertion/connection of the water squirting nozzle to the expandable elastic tube has heretofore been accomplished by relatively simple means such as partially inserting a rigid tubular nozzle member into the front end of the tube and, thereafter, securing that end of the tube, to the inserted portion of the nozzle with adhesive and/or tie-wraps. Such construction has been known to result in loosening of the nozzle upon repetitive or rough usage and when such loosening occurs, may result in complete separation of the nozzle from the tube.
Also the prior art constant pressure squirt toys generally require the use of a separate water faucet connector/adaptor when filling the device from a standard water faucet. Such adaptors are likely to become lost and, also, as specifically sized so as to fit only one type of water faucet (e.g. an externally threaded 3/4" outdoor spigot) thereby precluding the use of other sizes and types of faucets when filling the device.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art for an improved constant pressure water toy which eliminates the likelihood of injury due to explosion and/or end plug blow out and which is assembled and constructed in such manner as to maximize wear resistance and field reliability. Additionally, there exists a need in the art for a constant pressure water squirt toy which may be filled by a variety of sizes and types of water outlets without the need for a separate faucet outlet or adaptor.